(1) Field of The Invention
This invention relates in general to a system of discrete, visual representations which make up a matrix-like array and which can be used alone or incorporated in a game, for stimulating creative, verbal and visual exercise.
(2) Description of The Prior Art
Visual sense and perception is a dominating part of the conscious state, and visual impressions and phantasms usually are the particularly vivid content of memory with strong associations, though the latter at times may be even unconscious. The association of an image, an idea, with a specific word by sound as heard, or sight as printed, and with the motor responses required to produce the word as the associated sound, obviously is a large part of ordinary educational processes. Hence, visual representations of persons, animals, or things have been extensively used, particularly in a child's early and developing years, as an educational tool, to develop the associations required in education processes; to develop skilled and ready motor responses; and for testing or strengthening associations already acquired. In a similar fashion, visual representations, including photographs, have been used in psychological studies; and as well for diagnostic procedures for psychological, psychoanalytical, and similar purposes.
Over the past several years, particularly, a wide variety of educational materials have become available to help stimulate a child's logical thinking and association, his sequencing of events, and communications skills. In the early school years, and even pre-school, teachers and instructors often use picture cards to aid in the development of a child's association skills and verbal expression. These are, in general, single cards showing a visual representation of some person, place or thing, e.g., the representation of a certain occupation, type of store, recreation, or sport. As a child develops, however, he is presented with not just a single card but with a plurality of cards, these cards being arrangeable in a pattern or sequence, to develop recognition of certain utilitarian concepts. Thus, as disclosed, for example, in the 1976 Catalog of "Educational Design Associates"; in "Developmental Learning Materials", 1976, and in "Exceptional Children", May 1970, at Page 683, numerous and various picture sequence cards have been developed, to demonstrate, for example, some particular activity sequence, e.g., a little boy riding a sled, or sequence involving some daily activity, e.g., a little boy or girl preparing to go to school, or to bed, or growth and seasonal sequences.
In general, these various sequencing cards are available as sets of individual cards, each card carrying a photograph or other visual representation and having some connection with one another through a story type progression. The cards are presented to a child or another person, for the exercise of arranging them in a story sequence to evoke from the subject not only the response of associating or arranging the cards in appropriate sequence, but also of narrating the story represented by the picture sequence as seen by the subject.
One such set of sequencing cards, shown in "Developmental Learning Materials", and referred to therein as "Logic Cards", involves thirty cards each depicting some visual representation of a situation in which, either or both, a young teenage boy or girl might be involved. From a thirty card set, a child may, if desired, select only certain cards which give an account of commonly-occurring situations and incidents. Or, a child or other subject may use all of the cards in the set, creating a very long and involved story.
In "Developmental Learning Materials" there is also disclosed open sequence cards. These cards provide an incomplete sequencing involving an individual single situation, the students task being to complete the sequence presented to him in an incomplete form. The story is completed by a master card which retains the structure of the sequence. The sets vary in degree of difficulty due to the number and position (beginning, middle or end) of the cards missing from the sequence. Open sequence cards help develop a child's perceptual skills, such as percieving relevant details in pictorial material, left-to-right organization, and visual memory.
In still another set of available picture sequence cards, the set includes a number of different concepts, each divided into a single sequence pattern. Thus, the set of picture sequence cards disclosed in "Exceptional Children" involves ten different concepts, each divided into four sequence patterns, e.g., in one concept, the first card showing a cow, the second the cow being milked, the third card milk being delivered, and the fourth and last sequence card shows a boy drinking the milk.
Earlier, McGuire, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,379,871 which issued May 31, 1921 disclosed a game or puzzle which comprises a set of cards each carrying a visual representation of some scene, object or descriptive matter, and being appropriately captioned. The cards were accompanied by a printed sheet suggesting the theme of the story or plot presented in the picture play depicted in the cards. By arranging the cards in the right sequence so that one scene followed another putting the sub-titles in the right place a movie story was developed. As a game, the cards in a set could be played with by a number of persons, following the usual manner of card games wherein all of the cards are dealt out to the players. The person having the first card, which as disclosed by McGuire, might be designated as such, would make the first play by throwing the card on the table. The next player would have to either produce the next card in sequence in the story or else "pass", as usual in card games. Thus, the game required not only thought and judgment as well as imagination but led to amusing mistakes. Errors in judgment in playing the wrong card (which as disclosed by McGuire was determined by reference to a key on completion of the game) counted against the player.
There is available commercially a story book entitled "Another Mix or Match Storybook" in which are presented a plurality of sets or groups of discrete visual representations, each set being based somewhat loosely on a single, different, fairy tale. Each set of visual representations is presented as a page of a book, divided into five equal parts of irregular shape, and is held in the book by a ring-like binder. Thus, the storybook is provided with what might be termed horizontal and vertical groups or rows of discrete, visual representations. The discrete representations are presented as cartoon characterizations, each being provided with a descriptive caption.
In using the "Another Mix or Match Storybook", a child can see and read a particular fairy tale by turning to any particular "page" in the book and viewing the cartoon illustrations in sequence from left-to-right, while reading the captions. However, the child can also develop his own fantasy or fairy tale, although there is no logical connection between the fairy tales presented from page-to-page, by matching up the discrete visual representations depicting one fairy tale with those of one or more others. This is accomplished by flipping over the discrete representations in the book and matching sequentially from left-to-right in any horizontal row any of the discrete representations appearing vertically, to complete a horizontal row. As a result, a new fairy tale is produced wherein none of the illustrations relate to one another but the illustrations and their captions provide amusement.
Recently there has become available so-called "Tell-a-Tale" cards which, as set forth in the description of these cards in Teaching Resources Catalog, 1980, at Page 59, are designed to stimulate creative writing and story telling. Each set consists of thirty six cards, which includes a certain number of cards with visual representations of persons, places, animals and things. The appealing and amusing pictures shown on the cards, which can be arranged in a variety of ways, are intended to encourage verbal expression and use of imagination.
Disclosed in the same catalog at Page 61 are flip books referred to as "Alike Because" which, according to the author, develop association and generalization skills by comparing pictures of common objects. In these books, sixteen divided pages are provided in a ring binder, each page consisting of a photograph on the left and one on the right. Any picture on the left can be paired with any picture on the right and compared for likenesses and differences, e.g., as shown in the catalog one flip book contains a picture on the left showing a motorcycle and that on the right a unicycle. However, the pictures, according to the author, can be as dissimilar as an ocean liner and a necktie.
As can be readily appreciated, the various picture and sequencing cards, storybooks, and the game such as above-described do aid to further a child's or other person's creative thinking, association, and language skills; however, even so, their use is attendant with certain limitations. The single picture cards are, of course, concerned primarily with presenting a single verbal connection or perception with a person, place or thing. And, while the sequencing cards present a greater association of ideas and concepts, they require adherence to a predetermined order or arrangement of sequence cards if a concept is to be learned "correctly" or a puzzle "solved". In the case of the sequence cards in McGuire the written matter such as sub-titles determines the order of arrangement of the cards. Thus, the players do not arrange the cards and develop a story as to the meaning of that particular arrangement, this is predetermined by the written matter provided with the game. Moreover, other than the game disclosed in McGuire, the sequencing concepts presently available for fostering learning and understanding, as well as verbal skills, of which I am aware, are generally for use by children and in an educational setting.
Most importantly, however, while the various picture and sequence cards, flip books, etc., heretofore available have aided the development of association, conceptual skills, and verbalization, none of them, of which I am aware, lend themselves to the development of bisociative thinking, the skill and strategy of bridging conceptual boundaries that is useful in both the acquisition and processing of information. Instead, they seek to convey specific information about utilitarian concepts or are so open ended as to be unstructured. The prior art is "realistic" even when it is dramatic; there are, moreover, and most importantly no connections between various sequences presented, even when presented as a set of different sequence cards, or as divided pages in a flip book.